Houston Relocation Professionals (HRP) recently kicked off its first educational event of the year with a breakfast meeting entitled, "Resolutions and Realities for 2014."

One of the highlights of the event was a one-on-one interview with Peggy Smith, Worldwide ERC's (WERC) president and CEO. As this year's president of HRP, I had the honor of conducting the interview, which was based on questions submitted by HRP members. Here are excerpts from the interview.

MS: What keeps you awake at night?

PS: I want to ensure that we create a sustainable profession in mobility. I hear a lot of the research on what's going on with the HR transformation, and I think that is fantastic news for us as an association to finally have CEOs recognizing the need to bring HR in to help align with key business objectives. That is so critical. But the thing that concerns me the most is that absent in that is the taking of one additional step in linking it to mobility. This is my soapbox for 2014. I think collectively, everybody in this room and in our industry needs to work diligently to ensure that as CEOs recognize the need to bring in HR, that they extend it to mobility.

MS: What goes into the selection process for the cities that are chosen to host a WERC Conference, and how can Houston get into that rotation?

PS: For years, a lot of it was focused around destinations that could hold us in terms of the size, which gets limited around the country. In the last couple of years, largely through feedback from our members, the focus has been on us needing to get to a location where we can draw in the density of HR professionals, because that is what we're hearing from so many of our service providers that is the most critical.

We love Houston. You have an incredible, strong economy here. You've got petrochemical. You've got health care. You've got a lot of strong industries that are here and headquartered here. We believe Houston is a great location. So, it is absolutely on our rotation cycle.

MS: What is WERC currently doing to attract more people into the industry, and more specifically, the next generation of mobility professionals?

PS: We recognized a few years ago the responsibility to bring youth into the association, and so we created our YP40 group. I think we need to collectively work with some of the regional groups because that's an easier draw to bring in the youth. I think you're going to see them typically at half-day events like we have in the various regions that aren't quite as cost-prohibitive or that have the time constraints of some of our bigger events. But we've got to develop programs across platforms with exciting topics for them.

I also think there's an opportunity that we can be doing a better job of getting into the higher education institutions when they have a HR track or a people strategy track. They need to remember to bring us along with this.

MS: What accomplishment are you the most proud of in your career?

PS: I'm going to turn it back and simply say I'm proud of the people who serve in this industry. I am proud of the commitment they make day in and day out. What I think I'd like to hang my hat on is that people give so voluntarily and so passionately, and it's really the people who care so much about what it is that we do.

MS: What relocation industry trend are you most excited about right now?

PS: I believe very passionately now more than ever that we've got to change the dialogue from mobility being an expense, to it being the revenue support. If we change that dialogue in the hearts and minds of our business leaders and different business units, we are going to have a more profound effect on our industry, but also on how we're viewed.

MS: What industry trend has you most concerned right now?

PS: They're the same. What I have a fear about is that we'll play ostrich. This is not the time to bury our heads in the sand. This is the time to say that we want to be a part of it.

MS: What is one change from both corporate HR departments and vendors that could significantly increase transferee satisfaction?

PS: What I hear over and over again seems to resonate around proper expectation setting, and I think there still is not enough work done in either pre-decision or cross-cultural awareness, even within the United States. It's totally different living in Texas than it is living in the Northeast.

Michelle Sandlin is a writer who has been involved in the relocation industry for many years. She is the 2014 president of Houston Relocation Professionals (HRP), and vice president/director of communications and marketing for Chicago Title. Follow Michelle on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HoustonRelocation and on Twitter: @MichelleSandlin. Also visit "On the Move - Exploring Houston Relocation with Michelle Sandlin" at blog.chron.com/onthemove.

If you have something to share or contribute, please send an email to michelle.sandlin@me.com. Please look for another Michelle Sandlin "On the Move" relocation article in today's Homes section.